If the industry expands, scientists at a conference this week said, air quality probably will deteriorate.

"It's going to be harder to meet our clean-air requirements," said Gabrielle Pétron, a researcher in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's global monitoring division.

But new rules being hashed out by state health officials, industry lobbyists and environmentalists may help address the problem — at a time when residents increasingly are concerned about harm from drilling near communities.

Two gentlemen enjoy a hazy view, of the downtown Denver skyline from Zuni Park, 52nd and Zuni during a lunch break on Aug. 9, 2012 (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

A draft of proposed rules includes a requirement that companies inspect facilities for leaks and promptly repair those they detect. The rules, to be finalized in February, also would mandate practices some companies already do: using auto-igniters to burn off toxic emissions; and linking new wells to pipelines within six months to minimize leakage of methane, a potent greenhouse gas causing climate change.

State health officials also propose to relax thresholds for reporting air pollution and requiring permits — which would frustrate scientists' demands for more data as a basis for studies.

Gov. John Hickenlooper wants to make sure "our air regulations are good for the environment," governor spokesman Eric Brown said. "Getting methane emissions to zero, or as close to zero as we can get them, remains an administration goal."

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Ground-level ozone pollution along the Front Range has fluctuated with significant improvements over the past decade — due largely to federally mandated cleaner vehicles.

Smog still is decreasing in major U.S. cities that clamp down on vehicles and industry. But in Colorado, smog levels have increased since 2010, consistently exceeding the federal 75 parts per billion standard for ozone at multiple locations.

This elevated ozone coincided with an oil and gas boom. Since 2007, companies have drilled about 3,200 new wells a year. There are now more than 51,000 wells statewide, along with storage tanks, pipelines and processing facilities — all sources of air pollution.

State data also have identified specific ozone-forming volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, wafting from oil and gas facilities. In Platteville, a rural drilling hub, propane levels averaged around 84.9 ppb and ethane around 109 ppb — levels scientists say are far higher than in major U.S. cities.

Oil and gas industry operations are a major source of VOCs, said Joost de Gouw, a researcher in NOAA's Earth System Research laboratory.

"What you can do is look at the known sources and make them better. That's a logical approach," said de Gouw, one of many scientists at a National Science Foundation-funded forum at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Companies are concerned about state rules imposing higher costs. Proposed rules — requiring inspections, repairs within 30 days, controls on storage tanks, and routing of all methane into pipelines within six months — may be onerous, said Howard Feldman, director of regulatory affairs for the American Petroleum Institute.

"How much additional manpower are you requiring for a company that has thousands of wells?" he said.

Colorado Oil and Gas Association lobbyists are negotiating with state health officials, pressing to exempt from inspection those facilities that produce less than 20 tons a year of pollution.

The industry favors an approach in which facilities that emit 20 to 30 tons of air pollution would be inspected once a year. Facilities that emit 30 to 50 tons would be inspected twice a year. Those emitting more than 50 tons would be inspected quarterly.

Another industry provision would require controls only at facilities where more than 10 percent of emissions are VOCs — possibly exempting coal-bed methane wells.

COGA spokesman Doug Flanders declined to discuss draft rules publicly. "There are positive aspects of the draft rule that promote conservation through the capture of natural gas and the resulting emissions reductions."

Colorado's rule-making begins as the Environmental Protection Agency prepares to tighten the limit for ozone to 70 ppb.

This would intensify the challenges along Colorado's Front Range, where cities were hard-pressed to attain the 75 ppb standard even before the oil and gas boom began.

If states fail to develop plans likely to lead to cleaner air, federal authorities can withhold highway funds and force strict measures to cut pollution.

The Environmental Defense Fund is making the case to state officials that leak detection and repair must be done monthly at all facilities to be meaningful.

"(The draft rules) leave too many tons of VOCs and methane out there that could be reduced. We're about to see massive investment in oil and gas resources," he said. "We need to have the regulatory framework to make sure the development is done right."

Hickenlooper's staff is thinking that, "by regulating VOCs, we end up controlling a very large amount of methane," spokesman Brown said. An exemption for facilities emitting less than 20 tons a year "remains an issue we are discussing."

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